DIAGNOS TICS
Mobile imaging in the wake of the pandemic
The increasing demand for scanning and imaging device capacity in the wake of COVID-19 presents a real challenge for the NHS and its patients, but there are available solutions. In this article, Clarissa Pattinson, contract specialist at HealthTrust Europe, explains how mobile diagnostic units can help manage and increase capacity in the NHS in the coming months and years as elective services restart.
It is becoming clear that the health threat of coronavirus will not be limited to those who suffer from the virus. In June 2020, the NHS Confederation warned that the health service will be put under serious strain as cancer, stroke and heart care services try to restart.1
Healthcare providers will have to think about the ways that they can effectively manage their limited internal imaging capacity to ensure that the backlog of patients on elective care waiting lists can be diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible, despite the difficult circumstances. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, radiology departments were facing increasing demand, caused in part by the ageing population, a lack of radiologists and an increase in the complexity of imaging examinations. To understand how mobile diagnostic equipment will help NHS Trusts and private hospitals alike to manage capacity as part of their ‘Return to Normal’ plans, it is important to first identify the specific challenges which hospitals will face in the coming months and how these problems are already manifesting themselves.
The pause in elective diagnostics and screening is a key issue here. We already have strong data on the impact of COVID-19 on cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment, for example. Cancer Research UK’s data shows that for every week that screening is paused, 7,000 people are not
We are now at a point where many hospitals are struggling with capacity in their radiology departments. In June 2020, Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge, for example, had 39,009 patients awaiting imaging studies – 632 of these were cancer patients. This number is up 28,684 from the same time last year.
MARCH 2021
being referred for further tests and 380 cancers are not being diagnosed through screening programmes. Even as screening resumes, there will also remain the problem of patient confidence.2
290,000 fewer
people are being referred for further cancer tests than normal pre-COVID numbers. This is mainly because fewer people went to their GP with symptoms that could indicate cancer, due to the UK’s lockdown restrictions. Cancer Research also suggest that some
GPs were unable to send their patient to hospital for further tests during the peak period of COVID-19, with some diagnostic services completely put on hold due to the risk of spreading the infection. Cancer waiting times have hit an all-time high with fewer than half of diagnosed patients not starting life-saving treatments within two months. Additionally, data recently published by NHS England also
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